Lazy Suby gear­box in

The STI auto is a big dis­ap­point­ment, writes Paul Gover

THE ar­rival of the lat­est Subaru speed ma­chines brings big changes to the WRX and STI. The go-faster sedan is fi­nally back in the mix along­side the hatch and both mod­els have pumped-out guards, the STI gets a gi­ant rear wing and there is a bunch of other de­tail stuff.

But the biggest change in many ways is the first WRX au­to­matic. The five-speed self-shifter is old-school, not a dou­ble-clutch manu-match, but has been on the wish-list for a lot of WRX buy­ers for a long time.

They might like the idea of a ram­pag­ing all­wheel drive turbo car, but the re­al­ity of a day-to­day sub­ur­ban slog turns them to­wards an auto in­stead of a heavy-clutch man­ual.

The only prob­lem? The auto comes only on the STI. But we’ll get to all of that stuff soon enough, right?

Now, Subaru has done the usual job and also kept prices sharp with a $39,990 start­ing sticker for the WRX and a price cut to $59,990 for all the STI cars, man­ual-sedan-auto-man­ual.

There are ways to bump the prices, and the fully loaded STI — with Re­caro seats, sun­roof and sat­nav — hits $66,990, but it’s still a good deal.

Value

THE WRX has al­ways been great value and noth­ing has changed. A $39,990 sticker